


The Inevitable

by LyraMaeRose



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 05:38:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6892318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyraMaeRose/pseuds/LyraMaeRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Even though I told them to go away, they still stayed. They stayed and defeated Arlong for me." Nami absent-mindedly brought a hand up to her tattoo on her shoulder. "They gave me freedom from my eight years of hell." </p>
<p>In which Nami and Shirahoshi have a small talk about Luffy and also themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Inevitable

It was a blast. That was a pretty accurate description of the banquet-turned-party in the Ryugu Palace. Both humans and fishmen were celebrating their victory over Fishman Island's freedom. Everyone held a drink in their hand and were happily spending the evening, relieved of the recent battle's worries and stress.

Nami sat inside the bubble, emptying her twentieth glass of booze. People thought that this was her way of celebrating a victory – and they're not wrong, but that wasn't the only reason. She didn't look like it, but Nami hadn't recovered completely from the heat of the battle earlier.

Even though she was technically in the Ryugu Palace, her mind was still replaying the moment when Shirahoshi suddenly swam over to her and the crew, the poor girl helplessly crying her heart out.

At first, Nami didn't understand why the princess was crying. They had defeated Hody, the Noah was stopped and Fishman Island was finally free. There was no logical reason to why Shirashoshi should be crying.

But then Shirahoshi bawled out those seven words that made the Straw-Hats' whole world – not just hers – come to a halt.

_"Please, help him! Luffy-sama won't stop **bleeding**!"_

Nami was too shocked to see it, but she knew that her friends wore similar expressions of disbelief at that.

Because they had seen Luffy not a few minutes ago, and he was fine. They were fighting alongside him not a few moments ago, and he was fine. They had finally reunited with Luffy not a few days ago, and he was  _fine_.

Because Luffy was smiling and laughing not a few hours ago, and he was  _fine!_

But when their eyes caught sight of a bleeding and unconscious Luffy in Shirahoshi's hands, their minds had been forced to grasp the cold and painful reality that no, Luffy's  _not_  fine.

That thought haunted Nami for the entire evening.

Of course, she was aware that Luffy was now alive and kicking, eating sea monster meat like it's nobody's business while toasting for the third time in time span of ten minutes, but Nami knew that she wouldn't be able to get the image of a motionless Luffy out of her head for the rest of the day.

The navigator closed her eyes and sighed. This was going to be a long day.

"Excuse me, Nami- _chin_ -sama?" Nami's head perked up and she turned around to see Shirahoshi hovering just outside of her bubble.

"What is it, Shirahoshi?" Nami asked, before registering what the princess had called her. "And, just Nami is fine."

"Really?" Shirahoshi asked with uncertainty.

Nami nodded. "Yeah."

Seeing her confirmation, Shirahoshi visibly relaxed and smiled. "Alright, Nami-sama. If you don't mind, I want to ask a question."

Nami raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but she nodded nonetheless. "Sure, go ahead." But before Shirahoshi could say anything, Nami spotted Usopp swimming around with a bubble around his head out of the corner of her eye.

Instantly, she had an idea. "Shirahoshi, do you mind if I sit on your shoulder?"

Said princess blinked at the sudden request. "No, I don't mind at all. But why would you do that, Nami-sama?"

Nami shrugged. "I get restless if I stay in the same spot all the time."

Then, the navigator put her empty glass aside and stood to her feet before jumping out of the bubble and into the open sea water. But her head never made contact with the wet liquid as a bubble automatically formed around it when she jumped out.

After her whole body was out of the bubble, Nami slowly swam towards Shirahoshi and comfortably sat on her right shoulder. "So, what's on your mind?" Nami asked, crossing her legs.

"Well, I was wondering, Nami-sama," Shirahoshi said as she swam a few feet higher towards the ceiling in order to get away from all of the commotion below them. "What is it like to sail with your friends?"

"Oh, those guys?" Nami glanced at her crewmates under her before she put a hand through her hair and sighed. "To be honest, it's a nightmare."

"Eh? Really?" Shirahoshi turned to her, surprised.

"Yeah, all of them are a bunch of idiots!" Nami grumbled, throwing her arms up in frustration. "They act like children all the time and they never listen to any of my instructions!" A pause. "Except for Robin, of course."

"I see," Shirahoshi mumbled, observing the Straw-Hats below her. "Can you describe their behaviors to me, Nami-sama?"

"Hm, who to start?" Nami searched the area and spotted Zoro gulping down another bottle of booze. The female pirate nudged Shirahoshi and pointed to the green-haired swordsman before saying, "Well, Zoro's a sake-eating monster that sleeps all day and night. And, he  _always_  gets lost no matter where we go."

Shirahoshi giggled at the explanation, making Nami smile. Then, she saw Sanji being surrounded by the mermaid dancers and continued. "Sanji's a troublesome pervert that flirts with every woman he sees, whether they're humans or mermaids."

Just as she said that, a stream of blood came running down the blonde cook's nose. "Look, he even gets a nosebleed 24/7."

"Why does Sanji-sama do that?" Shirahoshi tilted her head.

"He's a pervert, that's why." Nami deadpanned as she looked for another crewmate. Mermaid, mermaid, mermaid, skeleton, merma-wait. Nami squinted her eyes a bit and saw someone with an unmistakable black afro alongside a group of mermaids.

Bingo.

"See that skeleton over there?" Nami asked, pointing at her crewmate. "That's Brook. He's also a pervert, a music-loving one, but he asks for your panties every day."

"Panties?" Shirahoshi questioned. "What's that?"

"Something we human girls wear." Nami quickly stated, ending the topic right there and then.

Then, she did another quick search and found a certain liar being floated around by Camie. "Anyway, Usopp's a long-nose liar that tells the most exaggerating stories."

"Why does he lie, Nami-sama?" Shirahoshi spoke up. "Isn't lying bad?"

Nami gave the princess a mere shrug. "It's a habit of his. But, Chopper and Luffy believe him every time."

Speaking of Chopper, the reindeer was shouting something at Sanji who was apparently frozen to stone...again. "Chopper's a candy and milk-loving reindeer that's...not bad, actually. In fact, he's really cute. He's only annoying when he wrecks the ship with Usopp and Luffy."

"Alright." Shirahoshi nodded, slightly amused at Nami's explanation of the Straw-Hats' behaviors. "What about Robin-sama?"

Nami's face instantly lit up at the name. "Oh, Robin's  _wonderful_. She's the only female in the crew, besides me. So, she's one of the few people that understands me." Nami patted Shirahoshi's shoulder gently as she said, "You'll love her, Shirahoshi. She's just like an older sister."

Shirahoshi blinked and her eyes softened at the thought. "An older sister, huh? That sounds nice."

"Yes, it does." Nami agreed, but her smile faltered when she couldn't spot Robin anywhere. "By the way, where is Robin? I don't see her."

"I saw Robin-sama talking with Father at the balcony earlier," Shirahoshi answered, gesturing to a certain door on the left. "I think they're still there."

Nami frowned. Robin wouldn't talk to someone in private unless it was a serious matter. "Well, I wouldn't want to disturb them."

"Me too." Shirahoshi nodded just as her eyes caught sight of a blue-haired man among the crowd. "What about that man over there?"

Nami followed Shirahoshi's line of sight and immediately recognized the familiar face. "Oh, Franky? He's our shipwright, he makes a lot of useful inventions. But, he sometimes acts very childishly with Luffy and the others." Nami explained, recalling the times when Franky and Usopp almost blew up the ship.

Shirahoshi nodded along, remembering Nami's explanation in her mind. The mermaid princess looked around the room and finally spotted her savior just a few feet away from her. "What about Luffy-sama?"

Nami resisted the urge to sigh at the name of her captain. "Well, Luffy's the most reckless, stubborn, and idiotic person I've ever met. He always takes us to dangerous places and because of that, we always have to fight some crazy people. Honestly, he's the most troublesome of the bunch."

"Really?" Shirahoshi asked in disbelief. "I thought Luffy-sama was a caring and thoughtful person."

Nami's annoyed features softened as she watched Luffy eat another plate of sea king meat. "Well, you're not wrong."

Shirahoshi blinked. "Huh? But-"

"I said what I said, and I'm not going to take it back." Nami insisted, uncrossing her legs. The navigator silently gazed at the eight people below her and slowly smiled. "But despite that my crewmates are one of the most annoying people on the planet, they're the best friends I could ever ask for."

Shirahoshi looked at Nami, her face puzzled. "They are?"

"Yeah." Nami nodded, turning to Shirahoshi. "You heard about my past earlier, right?" In response, Shirahoshi instantly recalled Sanji's words back at the Sea Forest.

_"There's no need to hide it. The hometown of our beautiful navigator, Nami-san, was on the island Arlong took over."_

"Yes," Shirahoshi replied hesitantly.

Nami noticed Shirahoshi's hesitance and gently patted her shoulder. "Well, Luffy and the others saved me from that."

Shirahoshi raised her eyebrows in surprise. It was the first time she heard of this. "They did?"

"Yup." Nami said, popping the 'p'. "Even though I told them to go away many,  _many_  times, they still stayed. They stayed and defeated Arlong for me." The ginger-haired girl absent-mindedly brought a hand up to her tattoo on her shoulder. "They gave me freedom from my eight years of hell."

Shirahoshi couldn't help but smile. This crew's relationship was stronger than she'd thought.

After a moment, Nami retracted her hand from the tattoo and started to dangle her legs off of Shirahoshi's shoulder. "So although my friends are a real pain most of the time, that's who they are." A fond smile graced Nami's features as she said, "And, I won't have it any other way."

Shirahoshi's smile grew slightly bigger. "All of you seem to be really close to each other."

"Well, we've been together for a long time." Nami shrugged lightly. "That's natural."

Shirahoshi nodded, averting her gaze to the party commotion below. "Nami-sama, I have one more question."

Nami glanced at the princess beside her. "What is it?"

"What made you go out to the sea?"

The navigator blinked, half-expecting the question to be a bit harder. "To accomplish my dream, of course."

"Dream?" Shirahoshi asked with a tilted head.

"That's right." Nami nodded, glancing at the crew under her. "Everyone in the crew has one."

"I see." Shirahoshi swung her mermaid tail and started to swim to a different section before asking, "What's your dream, Nami-sama?"

"To draw a map of the world and to make Luffy the Pirate King," Nami replied without hesitation, comfortably sitting on Shirahoshi's shoulder as the princess swam from one part of the room to another.

"You have two?" Shirahoshi questioned.

Nami hummed in reply. "Well, the last one is actually an ambition, not a dream. But it's just as important."  _Or maybe even more_ , Nami thought with a smile. "The others are like that as well."

Shirahoshi smiled again. "I see."

"What's your dream, Shirahoshi?" Nami asked, glancing at the pink-haired girl.

"M-Me?" Said mermaid stuttered, a bit surprised at the sudden question.

Nami nodded. "Yeah."

Shirahoshi pursed her lips in nervousness, choosing her words wisely. "M-My dream is to help make peace with the humans." The princess paused for a moment before a look of stubborn determination was etched on her face. "And, my ambition is to be of assistance to Luffy-sama one day!"

Nami grinned at the answer. "That sounds great! I know you can achieve both."

Shirahoshi beamed at the positive reaction and her confidence instantly grew. "Y-Yes! I'll do my best, Nami-sama!"

"I told you, just  _Nami_  is fine."

As Shirahoshi giggled at the statement, Nami glanced down at Luffy, who was now smiling and laughing alongside everyone else.

Nami couldn't help but do the same because that's how Luffy was supposed to be. He's supposed to be brightening up their ship with his infectious grin every day. He's supposed to be gnawing his meal while also stealing a few bites from their plates.

He's definitely  _not_  supposed to be lying still, in a pool of his own blood.

Nami let out a small sigh. This was the first battle of their journey to the New World, and she knew that much more would come in the future. She knew that one day, something similar like today would happen again. One day, Luffy might not be fine again. One day, they might almost lose him again. One day, he might not stand back up.

_But_ , Nami silently grumbled, _that's okay_.

They were pirates. They had signed up for that possibility since the day they joined Luffy's crew. Because something like that was practically  _inevitable_. But, it didn't mean they had to like it, though. No, they would  _never_  like it. However, Nami had a feeling that, in the end, they'd pull through just fine.

_Besides_ , Nami glanced back at her newfound pink-haired friend beside her and smiled.  _Luffy's got more than enough friends to pull him back up._


End file.
